By Michael Degen

Buffalo’s West Side has seen homeowners and residents abandon the area at a frightening pace for years, leaving boarded up, dilapidated houses to scar the neighborhoods.            

But people like Harvey Garret of the West Side Community Collaborative see those houses as an opportunity to revitalize some of the older neighborhoods in Buffalo.The West Side Community Collaborative is made up of over 30 organizations including block clubs, community organizations, business owners, and area schools like Buffalo State and Daemen Colleges. 

The collaborative, organizers say, aims to restore an area devastated by the mass exodus of home owners. According to the Buffalo News, in the 30 years between 1970 and 2000:

• The area’s population has dropped 29 percent, from nearly 24,000 to around 17,000

• The home ownership rate fell 53 percent, from around 4,600 to only 2,156

This is where the collaborative comes in.

“The WSCC becomes very involved in helping areas with bad crime to reduce the crime in the area, reduce the blight, and then attract home ownership,” Garret said.

The group is made up of over 30 organizations that include block clubs, community organizations, business owners, and area schools like Buffalo State College and Daemen College.

While many areas are still suffering from vacancy problems, some have fought the trend of vacancy, Garret said. A stunning example is Plymouth Avenue, home to historic houses dating back as far as the 1880s.

“They’ve got some of the biggest, most beautiful houses in the city.  It’s an area that a lot of people are attracted to right now,” he said.           

Plymouth Avenues success can be mainly attributed to the Kleinhans Community Association, which helps to buy, rehabilitate, and resell homes on Plymouth. The association also helps to:

• establish crime reduction activities

• plant trees

• landmark significant historic properties

• keep streets clean of garbage

While Plymouth Avenue is battling the ravages of vacancy, some reminders of the  past still remain.  For example, 21 Plymouth Ave. is boarded up, tagged with graffiti, and class=Section2> charred from fire.  It stands in stark contrast to the freshly painted three story homes surrounding it.

Just down the road at 99 Plymouth Ave. lives Lynne Vallone, a homeowner there since in 1986.  Her home, built in 1881, was saved from being torn down when she decided to buy and rehab it. The reclaimed boarding house was just host to a party celebrating its 125th year this September. 

Vallone feels that the area has made a change for the better in her 20 years on Plymouth.

“When I first moved in, it was pimps and professionals living around here,” she said.

Now, the area is mostly inhabited by families and students, which Vallone says “makes for a healthy area.”  class=Section3>

The street’s historic homes have also recently attracted architects searching for homes to rehabilitate, giving even more hope to a street that appears to have more than just its history to celebrate about.              

For extra information, visit:

The Plymouth Avenue Block Reclamation Project

Buffalo Rising - Saved Homes                                                                         

Buffalo State and the WSCC

Michael Degen can be contacted at MJDegen@google.com

21 Plymouth Ave. is a vacant, decaying house

Just down the street, a beautiful home sits in stark contrast to the abandoned house

Lynne Valone’s home at 99 Plymouth Ave. has been there for 125 years.